Welcome back!
Here is the next instalment, I hope that you all enjoy. It taken me a while to get my ideas straight for the next few chapters, kept getting too ahead of myself!
Anyway...

Thanks for the F/F: HorrorFan13, Pinkhippo204, kateXhumphrey and VersatileFearie

Also, thank you so much for your review my pal Dhalmi93. I'm so glad you're still putting up with me, its been a long while since I started this fic and I'm so glad you're still reading and enjoying, thank you!

I only own little Todd!

Chapter 36 – Broken Mirror Image

She was stood before the willow tree once more.

"Not again" She whispered, body beginning to shake as all the warmth left her.

The bloody and broken bodies of the Company strewn before her, their eyes dead and void of warmth that she had seen before she had fallen asleep in that Mahal forsaken wood. Her eyes were streaming, tears endlessly falling from her eyes as they stared into the faced of her Company. She knew that this was a dream, for it was exactly the same as the one she had experienced a few nights previously. Yet that didn't stop her heart from breaking into a thousand pieces at the sight of her Bofur, his body twisted in ways that didn't seem possible, his eyes were void but looking straight through her. Falling to her knees she couldn't help the scream that erupted from her, it was the only thing she could think to make the pain stop, to scream it out of her system. Yet no matter how much she screamed, they were still laid before her, breaking her, ripping her apart from the inside.

She crawled forwards towards Bofur, her breaths splitting out from her chest as she reached him, pulling him into her lap. She positioned herself so that he would be comfortable, not that he could feel anything, but in her mind it was important. She set to running a shaking hand through his hair, taking out the knots and tangles. All the while sobbing, her vision completely blurred from the stream of tears. The thought of never seeing his smile, and hearing his voice made her chest heave, and her pain sharpen. She didn't want to live in a world where Bofur had been taken from her, she didn't think she could go on. She hadn't even been able to tell him about her feelings yet, she hadn't been able to kiss his lips. She hadn't been able to hold him and this created a hole so deep in her she didn't think she would ever be whole again.

"Wa…wake u…up" She wept.

"Look what comes for you" A voice called from behind her. Yet it wasn't the child version of herself that she had seen in the last dream. As she turned her eyes caught those of a large black fox. Its faded grey eyes trained on her, and even though it was a fox, she could see the sick grin playing across its muzzle. It stood as tall as her, its eyes the same height as her own. It was definitely a Rebhane, she could sense it in the air around her. The scent was the same, the feel was the same but this one had no red fur, no white tip to its tail. Just black fur all over, making it seem like it had melted into shadows. It had fallen from Yavannahs embrace and into darkness.

"You didn't deserve them anyway, what does a creature like you need with their love?" It snapped, taking a step towards her, making her tighten her grip on her Bofur.

"I'm wo…worth their love, your words wont sw… sway me any different" She gasped through the pain.

"You are not built for love, creatures like you and me are above such things" It snarled, as if the thought of love was truly disgusting to it. It twitched its ears towards her, bringing its head down lower making it look like it was readying to pounce at her. Yet she knew that she could not back down. This had been what her Mother had been training her for, ever since she was a youngling up to the day before she died. She knew that this was how it began, they were tricked and pulled away from the light, and then that would be when they turned into fell beasts. She didn't want it to happen, she wouldn't let it happen, no matter how sick she felt, or how painful the itching turned within her. She would give her life instead of giving in.

"I feel sorry for you, if that's your opinion" She responded, her voice a little stronger this time. Her hand moving back to stroke through Bofur's hair.

"What has love given you then? Todd Tayen, daughter of Lisita"

"Don't speak her name" She bit back, her hands balling into fists. The fact that this creature knew her name and knew of her Mother made her skin crawl. Not only had it stolen her dreams away from her to paint this truly horrendous nightmare, it was trying to become familiar, but she knew it was all in an effort to twist her. She could feel it, every time it spoke the itch in her head moved along with its words, as if they were linked and somehow, they were trying to take over her. The nausea that she had been fighting in the day blossomed in her stomach, giving her no reprieve even in her sleep.

"Love has given you a Mother swinging from a tree by her neck…" It snapped. With that statement the image she had been faced with all those years ago exploded within her minds eye, till it was all she could see. The clearing in the middle of the village of men they had lived in. The village Oak tree where the town crier would call out all the announcements, where they held festivals and danced, now dark and lit only by the orange flickering flames of the torches. The rope hanging straight from the tree, her mothers neck trapped within. She couldn't breathe, it felt so real. In that instant she could hear and feel it, she could hear her sobs and her Fathers shouts as it unfolded before her. She could feel the anger and rage that filled the hearts of the villages around them.

"Love has given you a Father poisoned by an arrow he was too heartbroken to avoid". The image before her was sucked away like water over a waterfall. She felt like she was drowning and when she resurfaced from the head rush a new image erupted before her, making her almost choke on the air as she desperately tried to recover. Her father knelt before her with an orcish arrow lodged in his back, his own blood and the black ichor the arrow had been dipped in previously was oozing down his tunic, staining it a horrid brown colour. She watched as he coughed, splattering blood over the floor before him. This was the moment that she had killed the last orc and turned to him, that was the moment she knew that she was going to lose him. She could hear her anguished shout for him, she could hear the gurgling dying breath of the orc beneath her feet. She could smell the metallic scent of his blood and the orcs around her in the air.

"Stop it" She whispered, and as if her words broke the trance, she all but fell from it. The memories of her parent's deaths flashing before her, the raw and throbbing pain drowning out her words. She let her head fall so that she was forehead to forehead with Bofur. She didn't want to even look at the Rebhane before her. She hoped that by ignoring it that it would leave, that it was all her imagination and that she would wake soon.

"Stop it" She ground out with a little more force. Then everything before her lurched out of focus and out of ear shot, like she had been struck over the head.

"Hey…" Kili tried again, but this time rougher. He shook Todd's shoulder enough to pull her from her nightmare, then flinched backwards when she flew upwards out of her nightmare and into a sitting position. Kili had no idea what to do as he looked to her as her wide eyes searched around them, her chest heaving in breaths like she had been running for leagues.

"Todd, just breathe" He tried, moving to comfort her, but paused when in the light of the fire, her skin went sickly green.

"Kili…" She managed to gasp before she pushed herself up onto her feet. Her hair was even more wild that usual making it appear darker, as if she had been pulling at it in her sleep, and her eyes were looking sunken and more dull than usual. He flinched as she then stumbled over away from the Company before throwing up. Kili jumped to follow her but paused when she held her shaking hand up, as if telling him not to come any closer.

He watched and waited with baited breath like a concerned mother hen before relaxing when she wiped her mouth and made her way back over to him. She grabbed up her water skin and took a deep sip.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered, her worried emerald eyes meeting his concerned brown ones.

"Don't be sorry, are you ok?" He asked, putting a gentle hand on her elbow.

"That's twice now, huh?" She winced, trying to put on a smile to make a joke of it all, referencing to the fact that he had been there to witness her nightmares twice now.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, I'm sorry to have worried you Kili"

"You're sick though, how long have you been ill?" He pushed, just like her Father, was freaking out at the fact that she was sick. She knew that dwarves didn't get ill easily, but over reacting like this every time was starting to grind her down.

"I'm fine, seriously Kili… I just want to get back to sleep" She snapped, her frustration and foul mood flaring up again. Kili just stood over her and watched as she turned from him, before sighing himself. He hated not being able to do more for her, but at the same time he understood that she was more than capable of looking after herself, she had been successfully doing it on her own after she lost her Father for years. Not to mention the times she had helped save all their arses during the course of the journey from where they had come across her in the troll caves. He shuffled back to where he had been on watch, and let his eyes drift over the Company.

That next morning, whilst everyone was awakening and setting to getting their bed rolls all stowed away and their packs ready to set off again, Todd sat on the outskirts of the Company with her pack already sorted, and her roll long since tidied away. Gloin, who had been on the last watch, had found her awake when himself and Bifur swapped their watch, and she had not had a wink of sleep the whole time he was stood guard. Normally he would have just told her to take his watch, which was what most of the Company offered if they couldn't sleep, so that the one on watch could. Yet he saw the way her skin was sunken and the way her eyes seemed to be awake but staring unseeing into the darkness around them, as if she had tried to sleep, but sleep had avoided her. He had tried to make small talk with her, for in the past they had shared many a pleasant conversation about his son Gimli, a topic he was always ready to discuss. Yet after only getting one word answers out of her the conversation soon died on his tongue and he set to just leaving her to what ever she was obviously thinking of.

"Mornin'" Dwain grumbled to Gloin as he fastened his axes to the braces across his back, then set to helping Thorin pack away his roll. He wasn't the best person in the morning to talk to, but after being on the road for so long, every one in the company knew that you had to wait for Dwalin to talk to you first in the morning.

"Aye, morning laddie" Gloin returned, stifling a yawn.

"Good watch?" Thorin asked joining in with a clipped voice, as if it was merely a transactional question, instead of asking how Gloin's night actually went.

"No problems, although I don't think the lassie got a lick a' sleep" He admitted. He watched his Kings eyes slide over to where Todd had now stood and was swaying a little on her feet.

"Looks dead on her feet" Dwalin snorted, yet his eyes were dead serious as he looked her up and down. Todd looked rough, her eyes were swollen, her skin pale, hair wilder than he had ever seen it, and he couldn't make out as to whether it was the dim and groggy light of the forest but it looked like all the red shine from her hair had disappeared.

"Bilbo!" Thorin called, their burglar looking up and making his way over to them, his eyes questioning.

"Everything ok?" He asked as he shuffled into the now huddled group of Gloin, Dwalin, himself and Thorin.

"I need you to keep an eye on Todd…"

"Oh, I see…" Bilbo leaned out from the group and tried his best to eye his dear friend without her seeing, for he didn't want to be on the receiving end of her snappy demeanour again. It wasn't nice to be around her, and he was absolutely bamboozled as to where the behaviour had come from. He knew the forest was sick and Gandalf had warned them about it, but no one else was struggling and they had only been within the forest walls for one day. Yet it would be extremely alarming to him, if it was indeed the forest infecting her, for they still had quite a way to go. Then an Idea popped into the Hobbits head and he just couldn't help himself to hold it in. "… don't you think there is someone who would be better suited to that task than I?" Bilbo tested, his eyes flicking over to where Bofur was solemnly clearing away his roll, the usual cheer and over exuberant air around him completely dimmed.

"Master Bofur is indisposed with other tasks" Thorin smoothly interjected, his brown furrowing.

"We could always swap tasks, for I really feel he is the best person when it comes to Todd… don't you think?" Bilbo's voice was a little more revealing to his thoughts this time, and he had to hold his nerve when Thorin straightened up and shot him a rather harsh glare.

"I decide what tasks my Company work to, not to mention what's best for them…" Thorin bit, making Dwalin huff in agreement as Gloin and Bilbo shared a look.